A Question for the Teachers

I never sent home projects to be completed for this very reason! I have many theories on "homework" and how it should (or shouldn't be done!!) but I think I'm in the minority so I'll stop my rant right here! ;)

I am not a teacher, but I hate when parents do kids work. That said, in Kinder my son did a science fair project and took 2nd in the who fair, against kids through the 5th grade. We showed many pictures of him building his test gear and doing his project because we knew people would think it was done for him. They questioned him extra hard during judging thinking he would not know the answers, but since the project was all him he knew it all and blew them away :) Lesson being, you can not always tell just by looking at a project how much help the kid had.

Hi S.,
I have been in both sides. I am a mom, I am a former teacher and then I became a College Professor (overseas..but it's the same thing) . I used to give most of the school work to be D. in class where I could see myself the progress and effort of my students; I always knew who did what and who didn't. However, there were always some work to do at home (I kept that to a minimum) like finishing part of an essay or chapter summary, etc. In this case, I proctored the project actively by asking my students to write in class a simple draft, or a summary of their search strategies, or just jot down the key parts of their projects to validate their own ideas, that way I would know if the work was D. by themselves or not. I checked the progress or difficulties for each student from the beginning to end. I had 40 students in just one class.
As a mom, I think is a matter of HONOR and the way we teach that value to our children, it's the way we teach them to be accountable and honest, and be happy with their own maximum efforts. It is just a parent 's choice and a kid's valuable learning. Both instances are very rewarding.
Now, I home school my children and still they are taught to be honest with themselves,i.e. they take quarterly tests and quizzes at the library and work on their projects by themselves after I have covered all they need to know for their projects or tests.

honestly, i think you have the question backward, too many teachers these days push too diverse a curriculum at their students..tell your parents to vote for this person ( i dont remember getting my childs teacher permission to tell me who to vote for, do you?), bullying wont be tolerated,( but if you are a football player or a cheerleader, its ok), stop and look at what and how you are presenting a subject to your students, some kids are going to want to dive into a subject and want more information, while other students are going to be perfectly happy to do the minimum, all children should be encouraged to do their best on a subject, whatever their level of ability
K. h.

Sadly our elementary school just stopped assigning outside projects all together, or they did projects AT SCHOOL. And yes, it was all because parents were overly involved, especially in the science fair stuff, it was ridiculous :(
Grades didn't really matter, as the projects were given a credit/no credit score, with extra points for certain features (neatness, creativity, etc.)
They DO have projects in middle school and high school, and it *seems* like the kids do most of the work, but you never know!

Hi, S.:

First of all, have a conversation about the project with the mother and student together.

Put on your "reporter" hat and dig for how they did working on the project, etc. As you discover the process they used, then you can discover what the problem was. Then you can make a suggestion.
Conversation first.
Assessment next
Solution given by the parent and child.
Good luck.
D.

For essays, I require drafts and revision drafts and check sheets. I don't accept papers that are simply typed drafts. It could have come from anywhere.

As a parent, last year I had the "science fair project" issue with my K daughter. It wasn't quite done, but she was done with doing it, which became stressful when I had her finish it anyway. I don't know how I will handle that this year.

I'm a substitute teacher, S., so it's not the same, but I'm going to tell you what a few elementary teachers have told me while we're working (not about my kids, in other words.) They don't "grade" the writing they do at home because some parents always help, some parents never help, and some parents help a little. They only grade the writing they do at school in front of them. As far as projects go, doing them in the classroom is the best. I talked to my son's 6th grade teacher about a poster he kept having to do over and over because it kept getting messed up in the hour trip to school. I told the teacher that it was the poster from hell. He agreed that he needed to change this up because none of the kids actually did the poster the way he wanted them done anyway. What he talked to them about didn't translate into being done when they did them at home.

My son's 2nd grade teacher sent home the kids' entire week's worth of work on the weekends. The child was supposed to correct everything (yes, the parent could help - in fact, we were supposed to look at the packet so that we knew our kids mistakes). That kind of helped everyone know the child's abilities and also made them have to find their mistakes after the fact.

Hope this helps,
Dawn